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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
goad
I.verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But if he thought that he could goad a reaction out of her then he was sorely mistaken.
▪ Each year Asbury tried to reach every state in order to goad his men and to supervise their work.
▪ He repeated it constantly, goading Rosenberg.
▪ He was simply doing this to goad her.
▪ No Irina Volkova to goad him with her arrogance and her interference.
▪ These moves goad households and businesses into spending more on goods and services.
▪ They walk up the hills and goad the agents into chasing them.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Alexei searched for the metal-tipped goad which he knew must be somewhere.
▪ His calmness was a goad she hated him for.
▪ Jotan glanced back once, and then he applied the goad energetically to the p'tar's hind quarters.
▪ Meditation is the goad, the bit and the whip of the mind.
▪ The idea of millennium: this was the goal and the goad behind so much of the mission.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Goad

Goad \Goad\, n. [AS. g[=a]d; perh. akin to AS. g[=a]r a dart, and E. gore. See Gore, v. t.] A pointed instrument used to urge on a beast; hence, any necessity that urges or stimulates.

The daily goad urging him to the daily toil.
--Macaulay.

Goad

Goad \Goad\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Goaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Goading.] To prick; to drive with a goad; hence, to urge forward, or to rouse by anything pungent, severe, irritating, or inflaming; to stimulate.

That temptation that doth goad us on.
--Shak.

Syn: To urge; stimulate; excite; arouse; irritate; incite; instigate.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
goad

Old English gad "point, spearhead, arrowhead," from Proto-Germanic *gaido (cognates: Lombardic gaida "spear"), from PIE root *ghei- (1) "to propel, prick" (cognates: Sanskrit hetih "missile, projectile," himsati "he injures;" Avestan zaena- "weapon;" Greek khaios "shepherd's staff;" Old English gar "spear;" Old Irish gae "spear"). Figurative use is since 16c., probably from the Bible.

goad

1570s, from goad (n.); earliest use is figurative. Related: Goaded; goading.

Wiktionary
goad

n. A long, pointed stick used to prod animals. vb. 1 To prod with a goad. 2 To encourage or stimulate. 3 To incite or provoke.

WordNet
goad
  1. n. a pointed instrument used to prod into motion [syn: prod]

  2. a verbalization that encourages you to attempt something; "the ceaseless prodding got on his nerves" [syn: goading, prod, prodding, urging, spur, spurring]

  3. v. give heart or courage to [syn: spur]

  4. urge with or as if with a goad

  5. prod or urge as if with a log stick [syn: prick]

  6. goad or provoke,as by constant criticism; "He needled her with his sarcastic remarks" [syn: needle]

Wikipedia
Goad (disambiguation)

Goad may refer to:

  • Goad maps or Goad plans
  • Goad, a farming implement used to spur livestock
    • Ankus, a goad used for elephants
    • a Cattle prod

As a surname:

  • Amanda Goad, 1992 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner
  • George Goad, master of Eton College
  • Jim Goad, an American author and publisher
  • Philip Goad, an Australian academic and Professor of Architecture
  • Robin Goad, an American weightlifter
Goad

The goad is a traditional farming implement, used to spur or guide lifestock, usually oxen, which are pulling a plough or a cart; used also to round up cattle. It is a type of long stick with a pointed end, also known as the cattle prod. Though many people are unfamiliar with them today, goads have been common throughout the world. Goads in various guises are iconographic devices and may be seen in the 'elephant goad' or ' ankusha' (Sanskrit) in the hand of Ganesha, for example(?).

The word is from Middle English gode, from Old English gād.

According to the biblical passage Judges 3:31, Shamgar son of Anath killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad.

Tischler and McHenry (2006: p. 251) in discussing the biblical account of 'goad' hold:

In the early days, before Israel had its own metal industries, farmers had to rely on the Philistines to sharpen their goads, as well as other metal tools, the plowshares and mattocks, forks, and axes (1 Sam. 13:21).
The image of prodding the reluctant or lazy creature made this a useful metaphor for sharp urging, such as the prick of conscience, the nagging of a mate, or the "words of the wise," which are "firmly embedded nails" in human minds ( Ecclesiastes 12:11-12).

Saint Paul, recounting the story of his conversion before King Agrippa, told of a voice he heard saying ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ Some versions of the actual account of his conversion earlier in the Acts of the Apostles also use the same phrase.

In the Latin alphabet, the letter L is derived from the Semitic crook or goad which stood for . This may originally have been based on an Egyptian hieroglyph that was adapted by Semites for alphabetic purposes. Pollack (2004: p. 146), in discussing 'Lamed, Path 22' the path from Gevurah to Tiferet, Justice, in the pathworking of the esoteric Kabbalah, states:

We switch sides now and bring the power of Gevurah to the center. Lamed means 'goad' and in particular an ox-goad, as if we use the power of Gevurah to goad that Aleph ox, the silent letter, into a more tangible physical existence in the heart of the tree [of life]. Lamed begins the Hebrew words for both "learn" and "teach," and so encompasses the most Kabbalist of activities, study. Kabbalah has never been a path of pure sensation, but always has used study to goad us into higher consciousness. Lamed, alone of the Hebrew alphabet, reaches above the height of all the other letters. Through learning we extend ourselves above ordinary awareness.

Usage examples of "goad".

Though you cannot want sufficient calls to repentance for the many unwarrantable weaknesses exemplified in your behaviour to this wretch, so much to the prejudice of your own lawful family, and of your character, I say, though these may sufficiently be supposed to prick and goad your conscience at this season, I should yet be wanting to my duty, if I spared to give you some admonition in order to bring you to a due sense of your errors.

Disturbance at home immediately succeeds to peace abroad: the commons were goaded by the tribunes with the excitement of the agrarian law.

Goaded by his voice, Hem, Groce, Mara, and Biset picked up the limp alien body and carried it away.

Lifting coyly questioning eyes to meet his stare, she dared to goad him.

The old human woman bolted suddenly forward through the air, as the fearful sinistral goaded its dextrier on to a sudden burst of speed.

Unconsciously they would always goad each other by overplaying their chosen roles of the omniscient, donnish theorist and the practical, plain-speaking soldier, even when they were in basic agreement.

Goad says he took the dough but never intended to follow through, saw it as a perfect way to con Doss and cut town with a grand.

However irritating he was, she would not allow this effete Terran to goad her into rash actions or speech.

SHADE OF EARTH What boots it, Sire, To down this dynasty, set that one up, Goad panting peoples to the throes thereof, Make wither here my fruit, maintain it there, And hold me travailling through fineless years In vain and objectless monotony, When all such tedious conjuring could be shunned By uncreation?

Lennox off with a false reason for his accompanying Ruthven alone in the house of Gowrie, James privately arranges that Ruthven shall quietly summon him, or Erskine, to follow upstairs, meaning to goad Ruthven into a treasonable attitude just as they appear on the scene.

They used ox goads as spears, and sometimes their mock battles became fierce and Saban noted approvingly that Leir did not complain when he was pierced in the arm so deeply that the blood ran to drip from his fingers.

The occasional appearances of Gussie Gryll goad me into a new awareness of how much she means to me, especially as she and Gussie have now struck up a friendship based on jokes and, God help us, mock gallantry from him and mock maidenliness from her.

Butt poking in the air, Ouzo wagged his tail and barked again in an effort to goad the cat into running.

It sounded like a war zone behind them as Renate whooped and goaded as if she were enjoying every minute of it.

Bannor forced himself to turn a blind eye to their devilish doings, promising himself that every humiliation Willow endured at their hands would only serve to spare her pride when she was finally goaded into spurning him.